


Urgent Detective Business

by TinCanTelephone



Series: From Tumblr, With <3 [25]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Animal Death, Banter, F/M, Fluff, Friends to More-than-Friends, Humor, Minor Angst, Pining, Pre-Relationship, Sort of? - Freeform, Teasing, Unresolved Romantic Tension, friends to lovers?, ventures into Tinder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-22 10:22:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17058011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinCanTelephone/pseuds/TinCanTelephone
Summary: Jyn and Cassian are detectives, and they've always had an easy back-and-forth with each other.And then… they don't, and Cassian's not sure what changed.





	Urgent Detective Business

**Author's Note:**

  * For [marcasite](https://archiveofourown.org/users/marcasite/gifts).



> For @leaiorganas on tumblr: Pre-relationship mutual pining!
> 
> Trying to keep the momentum going with this cross-posting :)

“Holy shit, Cassian.” Jyn nudged her sunglasses to her forehead as he slumped into the passenger seat of the unmarked car. “Did you sleep at all last night?”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Please tell me you remembered coffee.” 

“Duh.” She handed him his cup. “No milk, 3 packets of sugar. Careful, it’s ho–”

“ _Fucking shit_.” 

“Hot. It’s hot.”

“Thanks for the warning.” Cassian glared at the dashboard. He needed to stop responding to Jyn’s  _urgent detective business_  texts. “Why are we watching Krennic’s Korner Store again? Didn’t Draven tell you to drop that case?”

“He’s laundering money through that joint, I know it. I just have to pin him down.” She re-trained her binoculars on the alley beside the bodega. 

“We can only stake out his business so many times.”

“He’s my nemesis, Cassian. You know this.” 

“Whatever.” He rubbed his eyes and adjusted the recline of his seat. “But when you get into trouble for this  _again_ , I told you so.”

She snorted. “You’re crabby when you’re sleep deprived. I thought yesterday was date night.”

Cassian tried to hide his grimace in a sip of coffee. “Maria and I broke up.”

“What? I thought you were planning to move in together.” She actually took her eyes off the bodega to look at him, and he groaned at the pity on her face. 

“I don’t suppose you’ll believe it was mutual?”

“I’m a detective, Cassian.” 

“Figures,” he muttered. 

“What’re you going to do tonight?” she said. “You know, to get over her?”

“I don’t know… rewatch  _The Office_ and drink my good mezcal?”

“Lame.” She took out her phone. “You should come to the bar with me and Bodhi. We’re playing pool with a couple of guys we met on Tinder. We need someone to keep us from cheating.” 

“You’re on Tinder?”

She shrugged. “It passes the time.”

“I thought you weren’t looking for a relationship.” At least, that what she was saying to Leia when he overheard them in the break room last month. Not that he cared or anything. 

She gave him a look. “I’m not. That’s why I’m on  _Tinder_.” 

He grunted. “Any luck?” Again, not that he cared– he was just curious. 

“Some.” She picked up her binoculars again.

Cassian frowned. That was kind of vague, but he didn’t feel like he could press for details without being weird. Her dating life was none of his business. “Fine, I’ll come.”

“Really?” She flashed a wolfish grin. “Awesome. Be at the Falcon by 6. Your first drink is on me.”

 

Cassian didn’t quite manage to extract himself from his stack of paperwork until 6:30, but Jyn still bought his first drink, while Bodhi was taking his shot in their game of pool. 

Beer in hand, Cassian leaned against the wall and people-watched. He quickly figured out whose Tinder date was whose– Bodhi was already a couple drinks in and and not-so-subtly flirting with the blonde surfer-dude wearing ripped jeans and a hemp bracelet, and the taller guy in a leather jacket and combat boots kept sneaking looks at Jyn’s ass. 

Well, “sneaking” was a strong word– Jyn clearly noticed and was giving him every opportunity. She didn’t  _have_  to bend that far over the pool table. 

When she finished, Jyn gave him a look and leaned up against the wall next to him. 

“I can see you judging,” she sang, too close to his ear, her breath hot on his shoulder. 

“I’m not judging,” he said. “It’s just been a while. I didn’t realize this is what flirting looked like nowadays.” To anyone else, he wouldn’t have put it like that, but he and Jyn could say that kind of thing to each other. 

She laughed. “Prude. You need to get back in the game.” 

“And how should I do that?” 

“Download Tinder!” Her hand darted into his pocket and he nearly jumped out of his skin, then she came away with his phone and he was too stunned to do anything but watch as she pulled up the app store and downloaded it. 

“Jyn…”

“You don’t have to  _do_  anything,” she said. “It’s just to show you there’s lots more out there. Options, you know? For when you’re ready. What’s your age preference? 25-35? 21-40?”

She snickered and he took the phone back. “Very funny.” 

She leaned over his shoulder and watched as he set his preferences. “Mmmm, 27-36. Classy.” 

“I’m not interested in dating college students, Jyn.” 

She shrugged. “I don’t judge, as long as it’s consensual.” 

“Don’t you have a game to pay attention to? And a date?”

“‘Date.’“ She held up air quotes. “He keeps calling me  _Erso_. Like I’m a bro or something.” 

“He’s trying to check you out again.”

She laughed and angled her hips to give her date a better view. “Eh, he seems lonely. Who am I to deprive him?”

“So are you going to go home with him?”

She frowned. “Of course not. Sheesh, I’m just having a little fun.” 

She pushed off the wall and rejoined the game, and Cassian knew he’d said the wrong thing.

He shook his head and re-focused on his phone, completing his Tinder profile and choosing a vaguely flattering picture from his camera roll.

Then, because he was curious, he started swiping.  _More people out there,_  he thought.  _More people out there_. Maybe Jyn was right, and this would help him get over Maria. 

Then the fourth picture came up and he nearly dropped his phone.  _What? How did I get Jyn?_  

He stared at it for a minute– it was a good photo, of her in a tank top and smiling at the camera, the leafy green of the mid-summer Appalachian trail visible behind her. The sunlight was hitting her hair just right, and the trees brought out the green in her eyes. 

He shook his head, then swiped left. This is why online dating didn’t make any sense. Of course, Jyn was his preferred gender and age, and (according to the app’s GPS), extremely physically close, but they were just friends. It wouldn’t be right to hit on her in any context, especially through a dating app.

 

* * *

 

Of course, he meant to never touch Tinder again after that night. It was just to humor Jyn in the moment, after all. But two weeks later, bored out of his mind on a night off and thinking vaguely of Maria (although overall she came to mind less and less these days), he opened it again and began looking at potential matches. 

On the third picture, a pretty brunette holding a terrier in her lap, he actually swiped right, then nearly dropped his phone when they were declared a match and she messaged him. 

_Hey, what’s up?? :)_

Suddenly, it all seemed a bit too real and he put his phone on do not disturb and turned out his light. 

From then on, he always swiped left, even if he found the woman attractive. He decided he just wasn’t ready. Looking was one thing, actually attempting to  _date_  was another. 

Not that he really had time for that sort of thing, anyway. He was trying to study for the sergeants’ exam at the same time as keeping his stats up. And Bodhi’s usual partner was on maternity leave, so he was bouncing between his workload with Kay as well as trying to pick up some of the slack. And on top of it all, Jyn seemed to be mad at him. 

At first, he wasn’t concerned. She could be mercurial at times, but always seemed to come around in the end– at least for him. Then he remembered that night at the bar, he’d insulted her when she was flirting with her date. 

He tried to apologize, but Jyn, famously good at dodging emotional conversations, always somehow avoided being alone with him long enough for him to get the words out. She even stopped sending him  _urgent detective business_ texts. And although he used to give her a hard time for it, he almost found himself missing the unnecessary stakeouts of Krennic’s Korner Store. 

When he really thought about it, he missed a lot of things. Their conversations, of course, their dumb jokes, and teasing each other. But he also realized she was the person with whom he felt truly comfortable talking about  _anything_. And in the end, there was no one’s opinion he cared about more than hers.

So he was almost glad when Draven made both of them drive four hours upstate to pick up a bail jumper. 

Jyn seemed less than pleased, although he hoped he could attribute that to the hour. He picked her up half past five in the morning so they could beat the morning rush out of the city, and she slumped into the passenger seat with wet hair and two thermoses of black coffee. 

“It’s too Goddamn early for this,” she grumbled.

He reached for the radio. “Is there anything you’d like to–”

“No,” she snapped. “Silence until I’m fully awake.” 

He dropped his hand and pulled into traffic.  

 

Two hours in, she let him turn on alternative radio, and after another thirty minutes, she allowed the volume to be above ten. She seemed crabbier than usual for a morning, and Cassian opened his mouth more than once to ask what was bothering her, but closed it every time. No good could possibly come from that– either she’d answer, and they’d be stuck in the car for another two hours of awkward silence, or she wouldn’t, and they’d be stuck in the car for another two hours of awkward silence. 

He changed the channel to talk radio and in true Jyn fashion, she fell asleep again and he was alone with his thoughts. 

She woke up when he pulled off the highway to announce she was hungry, and ten minutes later they were sitting in a café booth waiting on club sandwiches. Jyn was on her phone, scrolling through her twitter feed without even pretending to pause and read them, while Cassian stared out the window wondering why time always seemed to move the slowest when it was least convenient. 

He jumped when Jyn tossed her phone onto the table. “So how’s Tinder?”

He blinked. “It’s… fine, I guess. I don’t know, I don’t use it much.” 

“Did it help?”

Cassian shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t really think about her anymore. But in hindsight the relationship had been over for a while.”

She huffed. “Yeah, hindsight’s 20/20.”

Their food came, but Cassian ignored it. She finally seemed like she wanted to talk, and he had to take advantage of it. He leaned forward. “Jyn, I know you probably don’t want to talk about it but I’m really sorry for what happened at the bar last month.” 

She picked at her fries. “You don’t have anything to apologize for.” 

He didn’t? “But I thought–”

She shook her head. “Sorry. I know you think I’m mad at you but I’m not. I just–” She blew her bangs out of her face. “It’s personal, okay? I just need a little time.” 

“Okay.” Cassian leaned back and fiddled with his straw. If she said she wasn’t mad, he should trust that she wasn’t. 

Jyn still seemed uncomfortable, and he watched her try to force a smile. “I’m starving.” She picked up her turkey sandwich, stuffed so full with lunch meat, tomatoes, lettuce, and bacon it barely fit in her mouth. “How muc’ you wanna bet I can eat this whole thing?” 

He actually almost smiled back. She was trying– maybe it really wasn’t him. “I know better than to bet against you and food.” 

“Good call.” 

He smiled for real and picked up his tuna salad. The next few minutes of silence while they ate could almost be called comfortable, and Cassian dared to hope whatever  _personal issue_  Jyn was having was close to being resolved. 

They were almost done when the waiter came hurrying up to their table, wide-eyed and pale. “Sir, you have a gun, right?” 

Cassian stilled and dropped a hand to his hip. “May I ask why you want to know?” 

The teenager wrung his hands in his apron and rocked back and forth on his heels. “I’m sorry, it’s just–”

Jyn cleared her throat and pulled out her badge. “Kid, we’re detectives with Yavin City PD, that’s why we have guns. If you need help, you should call local law enforcement first.” 

“I did,” the boy said. “They said it would be fifteen minutes.” 

Cassian raised his eyebrows and looked around, wondering what couldn’t wait fifteen minutes. The cafe was quiet, no apparent urgent medical issues, not even a heated argument. “What seems to be the problem?”

“I was just out back taking out the trash.” The kid glanced behind him, towards the back exit. “And… I think there’s an animal there. And it looks super weird. I don’t know what to do.”

Cassian sighed and glanced at Jyn. On one hand, a weird animal hardly seemed like the type of thing to involve themselves in as out-of-town cops, but on the other, the kid seemed pretty freaked out, so Cassian tossed his napkin on the table and stood up. 

“All right, where is this thing?”

They followed the boy through the kitchen and out the back, where there was a small loading dock and a couple of dumpsters. Cassian heard it immediately, a low growling and clanging coming from behind one of the trash bins. 

“You can see it better from over here.” The boy led them around to the other side and Cassian saw it. 

“Holy shit.” 

“ _Fuck_.” Jyn reached for her gun, but Cassian stopped her. 

“I’m a better shot.” 

The boy looked between them, wide-eyed and pale. “You’re going to shoot it?” 

“Not unless I have to,” Cassian said. He drew his gun and gestured to Jyn. “Call animal control.” 

“Are  _they_  going to shoot it?” 

“I don’t know,” Cassian said. “It might be the best thing– put it out of its misery.” 

“Really?” The boy tried to step forward for closer look. “What’s wrong with–?”

Jyn pulled him back. “Don’t go any closer. I think it’s rabid.” 

“Oh my God.” The boy was suddenly  _very_ eager to back up. “Oh my  _God_.”

_Oh my God_  was right. Cassian didn’t have a ton of experience with rabid animals, but he was pretty sure this was one. The shriveled, mangy raccoon was crouched behind the bin, shaking an empty cream carton in its teeth. 

Then it saw Cassian. 

It growled and lurched towards him, and in the light Cassian could see the mess of saliva shining around its mouth, and smeared around most of its fur. He backed up a few more steps, but held his gun ready. 

“Jyn, keep the kid back,” he said, although they were both pressed against the wall to his right, watching. 

“Animal control is on their way,” Jyn said. 

“Good to know.” Cassian didn’t take his eyes off the raccoon and took another few steps back. Were rabid animals supposed to be this  _fast?_ It kept advancing and Cassian got ready to shoot. “I don’t think we can wait for them.” 

“Okay, okay.” Jyn pulled the waiter back even farther, typing furiously on her phone. 

“On three.” Cassian cocked his gun. “One… two…”

“Wait!” Jyn held up her hand, eyes still on her phone. “Don’t aim for the head. That’s where the virus is and if you shoot it there you’ll aerosolize it.” 

“What?” Cassian’s heart pounded and he started desperately searching for another target. “I don’t have another good shot– if I don’t kill it on the first try it might attack.” He glanced at Jyn, still off to his right. “You should take it.” 

“I should  _what_?”

“Aim for the middle of the chest, right behind the shoulder joint.”

“Cassian, if I miss…“

“Just take it!” The raccoon was advancing faster, but Cassian was afraid to turn and run lest it leap at him. 

“Fine!” Jyn raised her gun, although Cassian could see it shaking. 

He lowered his voice. “Jyn. Calm down, take a deep breath, fire on your exhale.” 

“I  _know_ ,” she snapped, but her hands were steadier. 

“Fire on one, two–”

A shot rang out and Cassian instinctively jumped backwards, his ears ringing as the noise bounced off the walls of the loading dock. 

The raccoon slumped onto the pavement, blood leaking sluggishly out of the hole in its side. 

Then the adrenaline crashed out of Cassian’s system and he leaned over, one hand on the wall to his left and breathing hard. From the corner of his eye, he saw Jyn rush over. 

“Oh my God. Oh my God, Cassian, are you okay?” She started rubbing his arms and shoulders, like she was trying to warm him up. 

He didn’t answer at first, panting and waiting for his vision to right itself. 

“Cass? Cassian?” Jyn clutched his hands. “Are you going to throw up? Or pass out? It’s fine if you do just please let me know I don’t want you fall on… on the carcass.” 

His vision had cleared somewhat and he glanced past Jyn at the dead raccoon, and realized it had died well within three feet of him.  _Fuck_ , he could see its skin between the mats of fur. 

He turned away and gagged, but managed to keep his lunch down. 

Which was just as well because at that moment, the waiter came back (he had left?) with animal control and some local cops. 

Wearing thick gloves and masks, two of them inspected the dead animal and began maneuvering it into a cage.

“Good shot,” one of them said. 

“Thanks,” Jyn said, a bit breathless. Cassian realized her hand was still squeezing his and he squeezed it back. 

Then he remembered why they were really here and had to let go to fumble for his badge. “We’re with the Yavin City PD,” he said. “We’ll be happy to give statements but can you tell the sheriff’s office we’ll be a little late?”

 

It was dark by the time they got on the road back to Yavin, the perp asleep in the backseat. 

Cassian spoke first. “So… that was definitely more eventful than I expected.” 

“No kidding.” Jyn flexed her fingers on the steering wheel, eyes trained on the road. 

“It was a good shot.” He was always saying she should have more confidence in her marksmanship. 

“Thanks.” Her shoulders were still stiff as rods. 

“I’m sorry if–”

“Don’t apologize.” 

“Oh…kay.” Cassian sat back, no longer sure what she was talking about. 

“ _I’m_ sorry, okay?” she said. 

“For what?”

“For being… weird.” 

“You weren’t being weird.” Not technically true, but it’s not like her weirdness was  _offensive_. 

She sighed. “I was, and I’m sorry. I was just… embarrassed.” 

“About what?” Was it something he said? He began to feel shame creeping up on him again. He never wanted to make her feel like that. 

She shrugged and blew her bangs out of her face. “It’s just… I know you swiped left on me on Tinder and I was  _kind-of-maybe-a-little-disappointed_  but I totally get it– we’re just friends and you just got out of a relationship and I said I wasn’t technically looking and all that stuff, I think it just took me a while to totally,  _totally_  get it, and now I… totally get it.” 

Cassian stared, trying to process what she was saying. 

She flashed an awkward, forced half-smile and adjusted her seatbelt. “So I just wanted to say that… you almost just died and that would suck if you died thinking I was mad at you.” 

There was too much going on, and all Cassian could think of to say was, “I wouldn’t have died, you know. If administered right after infection, the vaccine is very good–”

She smacked his arm. “Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean.” 

He grinned.  _There she is_. “But I’m glad you’re not mad.”

“Of course.”

“And… if you want, we could still get dinner sometime. Just the two of us, anywhere you want.” 

Jyn’s eyes widened and flashed between him and the road. “Oh, you don’t have to–”

“I want to,” he said, and he meant it, truly. Nothing in that moment sounded better. “I swiped left because it didn’t seem appropriate when we know each other for real.”

She let out a breath and shook her head. “You’re an idiot, Cassian.” 

“I know.” He sat back in his seat and closed his eyes, feeling all the muscles in his back unwind. “You can tell me again over dinner.” 

**Author's Note:**

> [Original Tumblr Post](https://cats-and-metersticks.tumblr.com/post/180355793360/hi-can-i-get-a-pre-relationship-fic-that-is)
> 
> Oh yeah- if you can pick out all the references to Brooklyn 99 you get a gold star!! 
> 
>    
> Still on tumblr after D-Day at [cats-and-metersticks](https://cats-and-metersticks.tumblr.com/)!


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